ds_flashfiction | Five Challenge

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Fraser/RayK, (RayV/Stella)
Length: 485 words
Rating: PG

Five Times Fraser Compared Ray and Ray

pivotal

"Well, that's the troubling thing. I agree that Ray Vecchio was a fine figure of a man. But it seems I can't be around this new Ray for more than five minutes without developing this very strong, well-nigh uncontrollable desire to bend him over a desk."

Dief sniffed as they walked along.

"Oh, because your remarks about mating are never crude."

late

"It's all right, you big... Yes, I'm still your friend. I want to be your best friend still, Benny, can you tell me that?"

Ray coughed on the phone. The bullet was out, and the internal wounds were healing.

"I... I think I can. Yes."

Ray's voice was quiet on the line, scratched like an old record. "Because he's something more. Right?"

Fraser wanted to lie, but didn't have the practice. Maybe he half-managed it. "He's something... different."

"And that's why I'm telling you to stay up there."

early

The evidence, laid out on the desk under a disguising file folder, was clear. This was almost incontrovertibly not the real Ray Vecchio. However, he suspected the Lieutenant would still prove recalcitrant on the issue. He had measured every conceivable body part, every aspect of Ray that he'd had the opportunity to observe – oh. Well, not quite.

Benton Fraser pulled his hat straight, took a deep breath, and followed his quarry into the men's room.

Calipers were no good here. He'd have to estimate.

before anything

"Someday, my simple-minded Canadian friend, you're going to meet somebody even more irritated by you than me, and then, then you are going to understand just how patient and forbearing I am being right now."

"If you say so, Ray."

Privately, he didn't believe it was possible.

ultimately

The Vecchios had retired for the night. Ray looked well; Florida suited him. He'd tanned, and gained a little weight. The bitterness, the constant struggle, were submerged, blended out into a kind of wry humour. And Stella seemed happy: warm and smiling. He could understand why his own Ray had been so devoted to her.

The couple had a tenderness together that he would never have expected, but he believed it entirely.

"Now you're being ridiculous."

"Just say it." Ray nibbled and ran his lips over the area behind Fraser's ear. "Say it, say it, say it..."

Fraser was up to his elbows in dishwashing suds.

"You've both aged very well," he said patiently, hearing his voice change whether he willed or no. Even now, Ray could do this to him.

"But."

Ray dug his chin into Fraser's shoulder and started letting his hands wander, somewhere between an enticement and a warning.

"But, say it, Fraser..."

He looked at their reflection in the window and wondered, to the bottom of his soul, how he'd ended up in this unexpected, eccentric, beautiful life.

"But you've kept much more of your hair."

"Thank you. Was that so hard?" Ray was pleased.

The wash water began cooling, forgotten.